PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Bankruptcy can help Californians facing garnishment

Bankruptcy is a tool that can stop garnishment proceedings for Californians facing garnishment.

2013-05-18
May 18, 2013 (Press-News.org) California recently passed a law that will help people facing wage garnishment. The law increases the amount of a person's wages that can be exempt from garnishment from $217.50 per week to $320 per week. Although the extra $100 is certainly welcome, people facing garnishment can still struggle financially. For many of them, bankruptcy may be a solution to their problem.

Wage garnishment and California law

Wage garnishment is one of the legal remedies that creditors have under California law. It is an enforcement action where the creditor receives a certain portion of each paycheck of the debtor. Under California law, in addition to wages, other assets such as bank accounts can also be seized to satisfy a debt.

Generally, creditors cannot garnish a person's wages until they have sued them in court and obtained a judgment. However, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, the IRS does not need to go to court before garnishing to recover tax liabilities.

Under California law, creditors are not allowed to take the entire amount of a debtor's paycheck. Under the new law, the maximum amount of a weekly wage that creditors may garnish is limited to the lower of:
- Twenty-five percent of the debtor's disposable earnings (what is left over after mandatory deductions) for the week; or
- The amount by which the debtor's disposable weekly earnings exceeds 40 times the minimum wage.

In addition to the limits on the amount that may be garnished from each paycheck, California law also exempts certain types of income from garnishment. For example, the amount that is necessary to support the debtor or his or her immediate family is exempt from garnishment. Additionally, Social Security and other retirement benefits cannot be garnished.

How bankruptcy can help

For many struggling with debt and are facing garnishment, bankruptcy can provide a solution. In general, individuals have a choice of filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Once either type of bankruptcy is filed, the automatic stay immediately stops all creditor enforcement actions such as garnishment.

The type of bankruptcy that would be right for you depends on your situation. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is ideal for those who cannot pay off their debts, are unemployed or have few assets. Under this type of bankruptcy, the debtor's nonexempt assets (multiple cars, vacation homes) are sold off to pay for his or her debts--an outcome an experienced bankruptcy attorney can generally avoid.

Chapter 13, on the other hand, is for debtors with a regular income. Under this type of bankruptcy, the debtor is allowed to keep all of his property, as his or her debt is consolidated into a payment plan that requires only a tiny percentage be repaid over a three to five-year period.

Regardless of the type of bankruptcy filed, the debtor receives a discharge once it is completed. The discharge eliminates the debtor's legal obligation to pay off many types of debt, such as credit cards or medical debt. In many cases, this will stop any future threat of garnishment, as such debt is the very reason why the debtor was being garnished.

Consult a bankruptcy attorney

Bankruptcy is a complicated area of the law with many traps for the unwary. If you are facing garnishment, contact an experienced bankruptcy attorney. An attorney can help you determine whether bankruptcy is right for you.

Article provided by Bankruptcy Center of John D. Raymond
Visit us at www.sanfrancisco-bankruptcy-attorney.com


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Restructuring irrevocable trusts in Michigan through trust decanting

2013-05-18
Estate plans allow individuals to provide for a transfer of wealth to their families, charities or other beneficiaries. Estate planning frequently includes basic documents such as a will, durable power of attorney and health care power of attorney or directive. Trusts are often major aspects of estate planning as they can help with such issues as: - Reducing tax implications after a settlor's death - Avoiding probate - Providing for children with special needs - Managing assets for long term use by beneficiaries - Business succession There are many types of trusts ...

The impact of divorce on children

2013-05-18
Divorce can be an emotional and trying process for everyone involved. Parents sometimes get caught up in the process, but it is important to remember that children often have a difficult time with divorce as well. One million children a year go through the experience of having their parents divorce. Understanding what a child goes through during the divorce and remaining supportive are essential to furthering the child's development. The difficulty of divorce for children Divorce has a unique effect on children. If divorcing parents can't be civil, children may be ...

Lowering The Legal Limit For Blood Alcohol Level in a DWI Case: A View From a Queens NY DWI Lawyer

2013-05-18
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, ("NTSB"), one person dies in a car accident each hour that involves a person driving while intoxicated, and twenty more people are injured, including three who develop debilitating injuries out of those twenty. on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, the NTSB called on all fifty states to lower the blood alcohol level that defines when a person is driving while intoxicated. The NTSB is recommending that all US states reduce the blood alcohol threshold for legal intoxication down to .05%. Currently, in New York State, ...

World's smallest droplets

2013-05-17
Physicists may have created the smallest drops of liquid ever made in the lab. That possibility has been raised by the results of a recent experiment conducted by Vanderbilt physicist Julia Velkovska and her colleagues at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle collider located at the European Laboratory for Nuclear and Particle Physics (CERN) in Switzerland. Evidence of the minuscule droplets was extracted from the results of colliding protons with lead ions at velocities approaching the speed of light. According to the scientists' ...

Climate change may have little impact on tropical lizards

2013-05-17
A new Dartmouth College study finds human-caused climate change may have little impact on many species of tropical lizards, contradicting a host of recent studies that predict their widespread extinction in a rapidly warming planet. The findings, which appear in the journal Global Change Biology, offer new hope for survival of a creature thought to be doomed: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12253/abstract Most predictions that tropical cold-blooded animals, especially forest lizards, will be hard hit by climate change are based on global-scale measurements ...

New X-ray method shows how frog embryos could help thwart disease

2013-05-17
LEMONT, Ill. – An international team of scientists using a new X-ray method recorded the internal structure and cell movement inside a living frog embryo in greater detail than ever before. This result showcases a new method to advance biological research and the search for new treatments for genetic diseases. Scientists at Northwestern University and the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie in Germany, in collaboration with the Advanced Photon Source at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, released the most precise depiction ever of the embryonic ...

Corruption influences migration of skilled workers

2013-05-17
HEIDELBERG, 17 May 2013 – Countries that have higher levels of corruption struggle to attract and retain skilled workers report the authors of a new study published in EMBO reports. Qualified workers are in demand in many countries around the world. They are internationally mobile and have the flexibility to take on new challenges. However, if the exodus of skilled workers exceeds the immigration rate of highly qualified individuals it may have a negative impact on the economic performance of a country. The authors studied the migration of highly skilled workers across ...

Control of heart disease risk factors varies among outpatient practices

2013-05-17
Control of heart disease risk factors varies widely among outpatient practices, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013. Researchers compared electronic health records of 115,737 patients in 18 primary care and cardiology practices participating in The Guideline Advantage™, a collaboration of the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association that aims to reduce risks for chronic diseases. They found: The percentage of people whose hypertension ...

Diagnosing heart attacks: There's an app for that

2013-05-17
An experimental, inexpensive iPhone application transmitted diagnostic heart images faster and more reliably than emailing photo images, according to a research study presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013. The app could help save lives by speeding treatment for the deadliest type of heart attack known as STEMI (ST segment elevation myocardial infarction), in which a clot blocks blood flow to the heart. A critical step in prompt, effective STEMI treatment is rapid transmission of an electrocardiogram ...

GPS solution provides 3-minute tsunami alerts

2013-05-17
Researchers have shown that, by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset. For the devastating Japan 2011 event, the team reveals that the analysis of the GPS data and issue of a detailed tsunami alert would have taken no more than three minutes. The results are published on 17 May in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). Most ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia

Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients

Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years

Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations

New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients

New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans

Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production

New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination

Study examines lactation in critically ill patients

UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award

Doubling down on metasurfaces

New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders

Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana

PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation

ICRAFT breakthrough: Unlocking A20’s dual role in cancer immunotherapy

How VR technology is changing the game for Alzheimer’s disease

A borrowed bacterial gene allowed some marine diatoms to live on a seaweed diet

Balance between two competing nerve proteins deters symptoms of autism in mice

Use of antifungals in agriculture may increase resistance in an infectious yeast

Awareness grows of cancer risk from alcohol consumption, survey finds

The experts that can outsmart optical illusions

Pregnancy may reduce long COVID risk

Scientists uncover novel immune mechanism in wheat tandem kinase

Three University of Virginia Engineering faculty elected as AAAS Fellows

Unintentional drug overdoses take a toll across the U.S. unequally, study finds

A step toward plant-based gelatin

ECMWF unveils groundbreaking ML tool for enhanced fire prediction

The food and fuel that farms itself

Patient- and Community-Level Characteristics Associated With RSV Vaccination

[Press-News.org] Bankruptcy can help Californians facing garnishment
Bankruptcy is a tool that can stop garnishment proceedings for Californians facing garnishment.